Out of state hunts/plans for 2018?

[hotshott2289]

Most of the tags you are referring to are already a premium price. charging more will make hunting these species a pipe dream for anyone but the rich who can afford to front all the tag fees to apply. I am not in favor of that.

I'm more speaking in the terms of making it something where guys more or less have to pick and choose.. not carpet bomb the west. Personally i feel like you should at least have to front the money for the tag that you apply for. That to me seems like it should be the minimum because you have to pay if you draw anyway

 

[Zim]

I'm more speaking in the terms of making it something where guys more or less have to pick and choose.. not carpet bomb the west. Personally i feel like you should at least have to front the money for the tag that you apply for. That to me seems like it should be the minimum because you have to pay if you draw anyway

Hotshott, I’m not a banking pro, but I’ve read that it is actually more costly for the states’ to handle funds via credit card charging & refunding, and no way around it. Thus this has slowly been going away in favor of nonrefundable fees.

As to all the various state point systems out there, it’s not like a big secret or anything that all are problematic. Those of us who bought in early have a lot of hostage points which get cheapened somewhere every year, via several methods. The states have figured out they must keep their lottery schemes appealing to young fresh money and must screw their prior investors in order to do this. There is no solution to this other than full conversion to a random draw. That is what actually happened in New Mexico back in like 1994 or so. They did a complete tear down. Others morphed their systems to 75/25 like Wyoming or 50/50 like AZ last year. Eventually I expect a collapse of most of these schemes so I’ve been scrambling to spend mine ASAP. I expected it in AZ & they beat me to it, stealing my lope tag. Next will be the NV house of squared cards. But odds are so bad there I’m a sitting target unable to burn points. You watch, it will happen. Their ground floor investors are drying up very quickly as young guys realize it’s a horrible investment for them to enter now. The supply/demand ratio is far outstripping a supposed decline in hunter population.

Another insidious side effect of the supply/demand shortfall is corrupt shortcutters like SFW and special interest groups promoting outfitter welfare skimming more and more tags across the country. BTW-When was the last time you heard of outfitter welfare being reduced by legislation??? That has about the same chance of happening as food stamp reductions. Never. Once anyone is suckling they will never go away.

 

[Boonervilleusa]

Welp...I was unsuccessful for Kentucky elk, Wyoming elk, Colorado elk, Colorado deer. only thing left is Wyoming antelope and deer.

 

[bowonly]

Instead of my usual Missouri trip, I will be making my first ever hunt in Kansas. Got drawn for units 12 and 14 archery. Three weeks away. Getting pumped.

 

[Obsessed]

Leaving for NE tomorrow evening to chase mule deer around. All public land. Pure solo spot and stalk. All new land for me. I've hunted them before, but it's been a few years. I don't mind coming home empty handed, but I do have high expectations of locating deer and getting in at least 1 or 2 good, close stalks. Then back just in time for the whitetail bucks to start their Search phase in my neck of the woods. If I'm lucky enough to tag out early, I might be able to get back in time to finish up some more of my honey-do list before I become a ghost to my family for the next month.

 

[Bowtech84]

We just got back from Wyoming antelope. Filled our 3 tags opening morning and spent the rest of the week chasing mule deer in South Dakota. Wyoming was easy but South Dakota was a challenge.

First afternoon of SD I got to 18 yards of a 150+ bedded buck about 3.5 miles back in public but couldn't make it happen. I've never done this kind of hunt so when I made it to 18 yards I kind of sat there and thought ok now what do I do lol. I decided I was going to wait him out even if it took all day but after 5 minutes the wind swirled and he blew out and didn't look back. That would be the closest I got to a nice buck all week. Tried a few other stalks but those public land bucks are well aware of their surroundings. Throughout the 4 days of hunting 3 of us ended up in killable positions on nice bucks (140+) but couldn't get it done. One guy tagged a doe on the last afternoon. Fun but very challenging hunt. I'll be back!

Few bedded whitetail, 2 guys in the group got to 12 yards but debated wether they were big enough since we were after mulies.

Managed to cross paths with a couple rattlers as well

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[sep0667]

I'm curious on these pronghorn hunts in WY, because it is something I want to do. Rattlesnakes..........the fascinate me and creep me out, reading up on the timber rattlers in IA is very interesting to me. How common are these things out in WY and is it something to be concerned about/how do you avoid/protect yourself?

 

[sep0667]

Bowtech84, that beded whitetail on the far right may have had me giving up on the mule deer. He looks nice

 

[Bowtech84]

I'm curious on these pronghorn hunts in WY, because it is something I want to do. Rattlesnakes..........the fascinate me and creep me out, reading up on the timber rattlers in IA is very interesting to me. How common are these things out in WY and is it something to be concerned about/how do you avoid/protect yourself?

We seen both rattlers in South Dakota, although Wyoming has them we never came across any (that we seen). That little guy in the picture was actually about a foot from a buddies (isuandy) face as we were belly crawling to get a better look at a couple bedded deer.

Ran into the second one a couple hundred yards away from the first. I about stepped on the second one when my other buddy yelled and jumped about 10' down the hill lol.

The odd thing is it was really warm the first few days and we didn't see any. The day we seen them was 40 degrees and 30mph winds. They both were within striking distance and neither one did, they seemed more interested in fleeing than striking.

The Wyoming biologist said they usually won't strike unless you try to mess with them. I would recommend antelope hunting, it's a great time and it's a fairly cheap trip.


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[Bowtech84]

Bowtech84, that beded whitetail on the far right may have had me giving up on the mule deer. He looks nice

Ya he looked nice through the glass on top of the hill. The two that went after him said they thought he was probably in the 30s.


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